John Julien, general secretary of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU), yesterday called on Finance Minister Larry Howai to launch a forensic audit into the financial operations of TSTT.In a response to statements by acting CEO George Hill on the company's latest financial results, Julien claimed it was an attempt to "create panic among the permanent staff to infuse fear and have them rush to sign up for their failed VSP offering".
He said revelations about TSTT's financial positions had been made in the midst of unresolved wage negotiations for the senior and junior staff bargaining units for 2008-2010 and 2011-2013."The matter related to the 2008 to 2010 period was referred to the Industrial Court after the company attempted to unilaterally interfere with and substantially reduce the formula for calculating COLA," Julien said.
He said while Hill had referred to costs incurred on TSTT as a result of an industrial Court ruling for 2006 to 2007, this could have been avoided if the company had not unilaterally reduced COLA payments to junior and senior staff. He said the company was made to reimburse every worker after the Industrial Court ruled that the Cola reduction was wrong.